The Evolution of Luxury

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-0-367-35122-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 182 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 226 mm, Gewicht: 249 g

This book offers a unique analysis of how our definitions of luxury have changed over the ages, and with that the role and actions of both suppliers and buyers of luxury products. It traces the way luxury was seen as avarice and emblematic of morally corrosive behavior in past societies, to being viewed in more virtuous terms as the inevitable outcome of structural changes that legitimize the acquisition and display of wealth. It examines the origins of the shift from criticism to acceptance, and traces these changes to fundamentally different notions of what constitutes the basis for social order.

Whereas pre-industrial hierarchies cloaked inequality in various secular and sacred guises to mitigate its presence, capitalism justified and reified inequality as a measure of individual success and initiative through interdependent market behavior. The result of this transformation is that status markers have become aspirational tools as hierarchies became porous and self-identity less ascriptive.

Correspondingly, as demand for luxury became legitimized, the supply side underwent dramatic changes. Such changes are explored fully in the sectors of fashion, art and wine. As demand for high priced and scarce goods in each of these sectors has increased, in each case key actors have manipulated markets to purposefully either consolidate their pre-eminence or manufacture the requisite scarcity that affords them canonical status.

The demand for and supply of luxury goods is now global; consumers seeking validation and affirmation of their status whilst producers engineer scarcity. Luxury is seen not only as good; it is virtuous, its demand possibly insatiable and extremely profitable.

Zielgruppe

General, Postgraduate, Professional, and Undergraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Taplin, Ian Malcolm

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Einzel- und Großhandel
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Bereichsspezifisches Management Marketing

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Luxury fashion

Market for art

Fine wine

Individuals, organizations and globalization

2. Luxury in historical context

Luxury as vice

Christianity and luxury

Money, markets and morality

The advent of capitalism

3. Industrialism, materialism and the birth of a consumer society

Culture of consumption

Industrialism

Home as domestic refuge and emblem of success

The dawn of mass consumption

Conclusion: Reconciling old and new

4. Mass production, mass consumption and new consumers of luxury

Mass production and mass consumption come of age

More money for workers to buy things

Selling the acquisitive lifestyle

Rethinking status

Inequality and materialism

What are people buying?

5. At Home in the Fields of Luxury: From artisan production to global brands

Luxury branding

Luxury goods firms

The business of fashion

Consolidation and growth

6. Art: From aesthetics to investment grade collateral

Art’s changing role

Market intermediaries: Auction houses and dealers

Modern art and the new marketplace

Revitalized auction houses and dealers become galleries

Is art a good investment?

Conclusion



7. Fine wine: Creating luxury in a bottle



Evaluating wine

Wine’s early history

Quality control

California’s early wine history

Napa’s rebirth

Cult Napa: luxury wines from the new world

Conclusion

8. Conclusion: Pilgrims on the luxury road

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ian Malcolm Taplin is Professor of Sociology and International Studies at Wake Forest University and Visiting Professor at Kedge Business School, Bordeaux. He is the author of numerous articles and books on the organization of work in the clothing industry and the evolving structure of markets in the wine industry in Napa California, North Carolina and Bordeaux. He is the North American Editor of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management.